Canadian special forces have exchanged gunfire with Islamic State fighters in Iraq in recent days, in the first confirmed ground battle between Western troops and IS.
The Canadians came under mortar and machine gun fire while training Iraqi troops near front lines and shot back in what Canadian special forces commander Brigadier General Michael Rouleau described as self-defence, killing the IS fighters.
Rouleau said the melee had taken place in the previous seven days and was "the first time we've taken fire and returned fire" in Iraq, where the extremists have overrun large areas.
"My troops had completed a planning session with senior Iraqi leaders several kilometres behind the front lines," Rouleau told a regular media briefing on the conflict.
"When they moved forward to confirm the planning at the front lines in order to visualise what they had discussed over a map, they came under immediate and effective mortar and machine gun fire."
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The general said the Canadians used sniper fire to "neutralise both threats" and there were no Canadian injuries.
The United States has previously reported having launched an unsuccessful hostage-rescue operation against the IS group in neighbouring Syria, but Western forces have not officially engaged in ground combat.
A US-led international coalition has been carrying out air raids on IS extremists in Iraq and Syria since last year. Canada is only involved in Iraq operations.
Canada sent some 600 air crew and other military personnel - as well as six fighter jets and other military aircraft - to the region in November to participate in the air strikes against the Islamic State.
The Canadian deployment is due to end in April, unless parliament votes to extend the mission.
There are also 69 Canadian special forces training and advising Iraqi troops on the ground, but theoretically not in combat.
Most of the instruction, a key plank of Western moves to defeat the emboldened IS group, takes place "well behind front lines," Rouleau noted.
IS gained international notoriety last August when its fighters and those from other militant groups swept through the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, then overran swaths of territory north and west of Baghdad, threatening to overrun the capital.
